The invention relates to a procedure for the construction, making and remaking of extended road vehicles in order to increase the width of road vehicles, particularly standard-make road vehicles. The procedure in accordance with the invention is based on an asymmetrical extension whereby all vital parts of the driver""s surroundings (the steering, control and the driver""s position assemblies) are kept in their basic, unchanged arrangement, there being no need to change or remake them. In this way the construction, making and remaking are facilitated, and an enlargement of the useful space is achieved. The invention belongs generally to the IPC class B 60 or B 60 R 27/00.
The technical problem which is successfully solved by the present invention consists in a procedure for making and remaking an extended road vehicle on the basis of a standard-make vehicle with a transversely mounted and transmission gear in front and with a front drive or four-wheel drive for, preferably but not exclusively, the construction, making and remaking in the sense of extension e.g. of a combined vehicle of extended (still permissible and useful) width, in a simple way, all by keeping, as far as possible, the original geometry of the vehicle, and by adding as few remade parts and assemblies, e.g. the engine, the transmission and control gears, the driver""s position and other vital parts of the vehicles, as possible. The technical problem, which has so far not been solved in a satisfactory way, is to determine such a procedure which would provide a cost-effective series production of vehicles thus made and remade.
The standard way or remaking road vehicles with the aim to obtain as much useful space as possible, or of remaking with the aim to change the basic purpose of the road vehicle itself, is based on an increase of the useful space by superstructures. Such a superstructure includes only those parts of the vehicle which are designed for the transport of freight or passengers. For example, out of a normal truck of smaller width a vehicle with greater useful width is obtained by adding a structure in the form of extended space behind the driver""s seat. An extension structure of simple remake is placed onto the basic, non-extended underframe, while a more complex remake is placed onto an underframe which is extended for the purpose. The drawbacks of such remaking or completion are demonstrated above all in worsened moving characteristics and lying on the road, and also in the non-aesthetic outlook of a vehicle thus remade. When the distance between the wheels remaining the same and the cab being extended, the ergonomics of the cab changes. The dimensions and the position of the mirrors have to be redefined, the shape and size of the door have to be changed and the driver""s position has to be redefined.
Although remakings which are based on symmetrical extension of the distance between the wheels of a road vehicle provide for a balanced extension and aesthetic design of a remade vehicle, they have a major drawback in that such extension requires the replacement of many standard control and driving parts of the vehicle, which puts under question the economical justification of such remakings.
As a whole, remakings of standard-make vehicles according to already known ways and procedures are very complex and their implementation requires a number of specially made parts and assemblies, so that such remakings cannot be carried out cost-effectively on a larger scale.
The procedure for the construction, making and remaking of extended road vehicles in accordance with the invention consists in keeping the vital vehicle assemblies (both driving and control) as well as the driver""s working surroundings as they were originally dimensioned and installed, while carrying out an extension through symmetrical or asymmetrical (or a combination of both) addition of an inset longitudinally into the vehicle.